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MSI GTX 980 GE vs Reference

jabokai

jabokai

jabokai

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31 May 2008
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Aberdeen
Hi.

Now that the MSI is only £5 more than the 980 reference cards, meaning money is not really an issue in the choice, which SHOULD I choose?

My (non GPU) plan - Corsair 750D, 5820K, Corsair H110 cooler top mounted and blowing air out of the top.

My thoughts - The MSI cooler is possibly more effective given that it's pre-OC'd and the reviews are very good... I believe the fans even stop completely in light use, which is very nice. However all the hot air blows into the case from the looks of it and this might not be as good as a reference design for my set up?

Also, when the nvidia/Oculus drivers are up to it I also plan to go SLI... which, if I got the same card, would mean 2 of them blowing into the case.

So, MSI, or reference?
 
Very good question, I was starting to write a post asking exactly the same thing :)
For the 970's the general opinion is that the cards are cool enough that with decent case airflow you can SLI the MSI cards fine but I don't know if the 980's are that much hotter that it isn't the case for them?
Of course on the 970s the Titan style cooler is the more expensive option so that may have influenced a lot of people to go for the MSI.
 
There's quite a few reviews around on the 980 MSI Gaming Edition which you'll easily get with a google. They all praise the MSI. Hence why I bought one myself and was then so impressed bought a second.

Mileage will of course vary, but the hottest I've managed to get either of the cards in Sli is 74C, which imo is great. Bare in mind thats after a several hour Crysis 3 session which appears to scale very well with sli.

Things I love: looks (theres a glowing white dragon logo on each card), fan profiles where fans wont even start spinning until temps above 50C. Quiet even in Sli (though not silent when under extreme load), only 2 slots, did I mention the glowing dragon? ;) And very cool running. My 780 used to hit these temps and that was without Sli.
 
Nice to hear King, whats the spacing like on your motherboard and what sort of case airflow have you got to get those temps?
 
I'm fortunate enough to have a full one slot space between the two cards. So the top PCI-e lane has 3 slots between itself and the second lane, giving the spare slot space between the two cards.

Its in a Fractal Define R4 windowed case with standard 2 x 140mm cases fans doing the intake at a very slow speed (about 650 rpm). I'm also only using one enermax exhaust 140mm for now. Though I do have an additional 2 x 120mm enermax fans moving air through the cpu cooler. I could fit more exhausts to the roof and an additional intake to to the floor, but I don't feel there's any need. I might tinker further down the road though.

My PC is in my lounge, so silence is a high priority for me, hence the slow fans and no probs with temps on 980's Sli.
 
Okay, so one of the reference cards is now £409.99, today only.

Reference has cost/airflow(probably) in it's favour, MSI has great reviews and quietness... decisions! :confused:
 
KingDazza said:
One other factor to consider. The MSI is quicker fresh out of the box.
Click to expand...

True... but I would overclock anyway and I'm (mildly) concerned about the cooling and having to add more intake and exhaust fans... I think I'm leaning towards reference.
 
If you think you might SLI in the near future then go for reference (exhaust cooling). Is that not still the general advice???

Given that the 980s run pretty cool though (compared to my 780Tis for example, which are both ref designs) there might not be as much of an issue?

Depends if you want ultra quietness or not. The MSI coolers are v quiet (I had 670 MSI twin frozr - great card. Guessing it's the same or similar cooling design). The reference coolers on my 780Tis get pretty noisy above 65% fan speed, so I try keep the fans a bit under this, and temps peak at about 82.
 
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I'd be interested to hear other peoples views. But whilst I understand the reference blower design would blow a larger percentage of heat directly out of the case.

Surely that is offset by the fact that the after market cooler on the MSI and others are more efficient in cooling the card in the first place. So unless you are concerned about other components in your case getting too hot due to very poor case cooling, the after market cooler is the better option. Particularly if you intend over clocking.

EDIT: I should add, I can see a debate more so if the cards have no gap between themselves, perhaps then the reference blowers are better... ?
 
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I'm definitely leaning towards the MSI option, every review of them seems very good and on the 970s especially there are quite a few people on here that have them in SLI and say that the temps and noise are fine. In my case I have plenty of airflow (3x140mm intakes, 2x140mm exhaust) and slot gap between the cards so I think I'll be able to deal with extra hot air inside.
 
KingDazza said:
I'd be interested to hear other peoples views. But whilst I understand the reference blower design would blow a larger percentage of heat directly out of the case.

Surely that is offset by the fact that the after market cooler on the MSI and others are more efficient in cooling the card in the first place. So unless you are concerned about other components in your case getting too hot due to very poor case cooling, the after market cooler is the better option. Particularly if you intend over clocking.

EDIT: I should add, I can see a debate more so if the cards have no gap between themselves, perhaps then the reference blowers are better... ?
Click to expand...

I'm getting an Asus X99 Deluxe mobo and I'm not sure if the dual slots are directly adjacent or not.

My main thought in all this was that I wanted to use the H110 in conjunction with the existing case fans (i.e. I don't really want to add more to the 2 front intakes and 1 rear exhaust) so it made sense to have the CPU cooler as an exhaust. Bearing that in mind, it then made sense to have GPU cooler that blows as much as possible out the back, rather than into the case, and therefore over the radiator.

I guess it's not a big deal either way, just what I was thinking... but obviously I'm not certain or I wouldn't have posted the thread! ;)
 
The only thing I can say really, is that I held off going Sli for many years due to power hungry, hotter running, nosier concerns. Yet I was so impressed with the 980's that I decided now would be the ideal time to take the plunge.

I wouldn't have done that if I wasn't so impressed with how cool these cards run. So to that end, personally I dont think you'd have anything to worry about, particularly as I have my two roof exhausts covered/shut and only use one rear exhaust. And even then I have the case fans on slow rpms and still don't have temp problems.

Hope that helps :)
 
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